Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Beaverton School District year in review: 2013 started rough but improved

levypasses.jpg

Voters approved the Beaverton School District local option levy in May, one of the district highlights of 2013. From left, board member LeeAnn Larsen, Superintendent Jeff Rose and former board member Sarah Smith
(Doug Beghtel/The Oregonian)

The district had reduced 344 teaching positions in the summer of 2012 and little had changed by January 2013. In addition to layoffs, more than 360 teachers were transferred between schools, classes were bursting with students, programs were cut and the rest of 2013 looked grim.

But Beaverton wasn’t down for long. Voters passed a local option levy in May totaling $15 million a year for five years with the first of the funds coming at the start of this school year. Schools, students and parents limped through the next month, knowing the $15 million would bring back at least 151 of the teaching jobs. So far, it has brought back 200.

The levy would not return the district to where it was before the cuts, but it was a start. Since then, the district received funds from Washington County and the City of Hillsboro as well as additional state funds.

The district also rectified the chaotic transfer of hundreds of teachers, many into classrooms in which they had little to no experience. About 380 teachers were re-transferred into jobs in which they had experience. Meanwhile, plenty of news fell between the chaos and plans to get the district back on its feet.

The following school district stories include some of the most widely read in Beaverton in 2013.

January 2013 had its share of issues, but none was more emotional than the naming of the Southridge High football stadium. The school board decided against allowing facilities on school campuses to be given separate names from the school, thereby, eliminating plans by friends and family of Andrew Keller to name Southridge High School’s stadium after the fallen soldier. The board, however, did not rule out naming a “collective memorial that equitably honors deceased members of a school or the District community.”

A year later, everything came together as the Southridge community and Kellers came up with the Southridge High School Community Plaza, meeting the district’s policy and memorializing Army Pfc. Keller along with other fallen soldiers. The community is raising $900,000 for the project.

In February, the district spent $58,000 on a public relation’s firm to win the hearts and minds of the community. The project was titled, “Future Focus: Community Conversations About Hope and Excellence.” It resulted in the district’s “WE” initiative this fall with the goal of ensuring everyone in Beaverton knows what it takes for students to succeed. Pins, banners and posters can be found across the district with the district's goals for graduates -- Think, Know, Act and Go. As of October, the “WE” pins, banners and brochures had cost the district $10,000.

The local option levy passed May 21, bumping up property taxes and pulling in $15 million a year for five years. The board learned in mid-December that the levy could bring as much as $18 million this first school year, giving the district another $3 million for additional teachers.

On the heels of budget cuts, the elimination of 344 teaching jobs and the passage of a local option levy to bring back half of the lost jobs, the Beaverton School Board bumped its superintendent's pay to $193,000, making him the second highest paid in Oregon. Many community members were outraged and some parents said he should have waited. Rose had frozen his pay the previous year. The story was one of the most widely read Beaverton stories in 2013, ranking No. 23 among the top 50.

Aloha’s marchers drew the most Beaverton readers, at No. 17 in the top 50. In August, it looked as if Aloha High School wouldn't have enough students for a marching band this coming school year, but the musicians rallied their friends and fielded enough players --experienced and novice --to keep on marching.

Speaking of music, the district started a Music Task Force in 2013 to help find ways to improve music across the district, which has been whittled back for years and took a big hit under the 2012-13 budget cuts. The Beaverton Leader ran a series of stories about deficiencies in Beaverton school bands.

The district started the school year off with a lack of communication. After several schools failed to inform parents of incoming kindergartners that the first day of school would be delayed, parents scrambled to reschedule work and daycare.

In September, the school board decided to place a construction bond on the May ballot to pay for a new high school, new technology, building improvements, renovations and replacements among other projects. On January 13, 2014, the board will decide which projects will be funded with the $680 million bond. The district has said the bond will not increase the $2.11/$1,000 of assessed value property owners already pay for school construction bonds. If voters approve the $680 million bond, the projects would take place over the next eight to 10 years.

The district settled an eminent domain case and acquired 31 acres of property near South Cooper Mountain for $3.7 million, far less than the $9 million sought by the property owners, Harold Ward Revocable Living Trust. But they aren’t done yet.

The 31 acres will make up the bulk of the 45 acres the district needs for a future high school, but the remaining 15 acres may be a struggle. The Crescent Grove Cemetery Association argues that its land near Southwest Roy Rogers and Scholls Ferry roads is worth $10.9 million, whereas the school district’s appraiser says it’s closer to $1.8 million.

The 2013-14 school year has been full of changes from new Common Core State Standards to teacher evaluations and report cards. Stories about the district’s new report cards garnered the most online readers among the three.

At elementary and middle schools numbers replaced letters to reflect where a student is performing on particular learning targets within a given subject – for example, fractions in math. But parents said the district has not properly explained what goes into the number grades, which are 1-4. Four is “highly proficient” and 1 is “developing.” In addition, the grades separate behavior from academic ability.